Why aren't there any alcohol cartels and gangs? Oh, right.
There are:
"Currently, ATF is conducting several joint investigations with the Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Customs Services, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and Canadian Customs regarding significant tobacco and distilled spirits-related criminal diversion activities within the United States and Canada. ATF is also developing an intelligence database for diversion cases that involve alcohol and tobacco criminal diversion activity."
http://www.atf.gov/about/programs/diversion.htm
The towns involved - South Gate, Maywood, Huntington Park, Bell Gardens - are all now at least 75 - 85% "hispanic". Which is to say, Mexican. What you are seeing there is, in fact, what Mexico is like. Period. If it wasn't drugs, it would be access to government, access to jobs, everything.
Almost nothing happens in Mexico without patronage extortion: it's expected. It's the norm. It's the way the society operates...if you can call it operable.
This is what the Southwestern United States is turning into. As the immigration laws are not enforced, as official multiculturalism forbids honest discussion of it, as criminal Mexican officials seize illegitimate power in the U.S. (they even have the mayor of Los Angeles, and yes kiddies, you can bet he's up to his undershorts in this), this is what will happen to the once great American Southwest: it will become a sinister, ugly and terrifying pit run by seedy murderers from Guess Where. And they will always be painted as being poor and oppressed, forced to do these terrible things because the Evil Gringos were mean to them.
All of which is bunk. These places were empty dirt a century and a half ago when the gringos arrived and turned them into the places they used to be - decent middle and working class neighborhoods and towns. Then the overflow from the Nightmare Next Door showed up, and this is the result.